Volpe Center Highlights - May/June 2002
Homeland Security
Director's Notes |
Focus |
Safety |
Mobility and Economic Growth
Human and Natural Environment |
Organizational Excellence |
Homeland Security
Papers and Presentations
Volpe Center Staff Member Joins Airport Screening Training Team (TSA)
Volpe staff support the new Transportation Security Administration in its implementation of premium-quality training of airport security screeners. |
At the request of the Research and Special Programs Administration's Administrator, Miss Ellen G. Engleman, the Volpe Center is supporting the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Last year, the TSA was chartered by Congress to take over transportation security nationwide, beginning with aviation security. TSA quickly developed a plan that would provide for premium-quality, intense, and measurable training for security screeners employed by the TSA at the 429 U.S. airports with commercial service. The training has a dual objective of protecting the system and serving the traveling public. Key elements include screening of persons, baggage, and cargo. The screener training included x-ray interpretation, operation and maintenance of walk-through metal detectors, explosive trace detectors, hand-held metal detectors, stress management, conflict resolution, and professional interaction with passengers.
As part of Volpe's support to TSA, Ms. Justyne Johnson of the Center's Telecommunications Division participated in the Airport Screener Training Program at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia, where she was fully certified as a Screener Training Facilitator. After receiving instruction, she traveled to the Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City to train airport security screeners and supervisors; this intensive training session was conducted over four consecutive weeks in April. Ms. Johnson remains on call for the TSA and expects to be training airport security screeners again in the near future.
Joining Forces to Address Wire System Aging (FRA)
Experts from many fields are collaborating to address the pervasive problem of wire system aging. |
Aging wire systems impact many elements of our nation's infrastructure, including aircraft, spacecraft, railroads, and nuclear power plants, as well as residential housing. A study by the White House National Science and Technology Council concluded that wire system safety is an important public health and safety issue that transcends government agencies. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission hosted the International Conference on Wire System Aging in Rockville, Maryland, from April 23 to 25, 2002. The conference reviewed current practices and programs for understanding and managing wire system aging; enabled information exchange on the status of related research; and identified technical issues and programs of interest for collaborative research. The conference sessions - Reliability Physics Modeling, Fire Risk Assessment, Risk Significance, and Diagnostics and Prognostics - featured papers by diverse organizations in government, academia, the aerospace industry, and the nuclear power industry.
Dr. John Brewer of the Vehicle Crashworthiness Division participated in the conference. Dr. Brewer was a panelist in a summary discussion that reviewed the proceedings and discussed the future direction for research and collaboration. He also invited attendees to propose contributions to the National Strategy Document of the Wire System Safety Interagency Working Group (WSSIWG), a group chartered by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Brewer chairs the WSSIWG subgroup that is drafting the document.
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